Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone - I wonder if you can help? My daughter who is nearly 4 has not been diagnosed with Autism (yet - due to see paediatrician in the next few weeks) but she's just started Nursery School and seems to be getting very distressed by some of the video/cartoon teaching aids and nursery rhymes they show on screen - she cries, putting her hands over her ears and wanting it to stop. She has not done this before at home but now does both here at home (for some teaching aids we have looked up online) and at school - have any of you come across this before? She cannot explain what is upsetting her (not good enough at language yet), and her reading ability is markedly better than those of her age. I would be grateful if anyone would let me know if they've witnessed similar - we are trying to help her as much as we can... x
Thank you so very much, you've given me some great advice, I'll make a note of what she finds unbearable and what sort of noises etc she reacts to, so we can share the information with the paediatrician and audiologist next time we see them. I know the school has some ear defenders so I'll suggest they have them available if she becomes agitated when she's there. Have a lovely rest of your weekend x
NAS24571 said: thanks so much Deepthought for posting about this.
thanks so much Deepthought for posting about this.
Glad to have been of some assistance.
NAS24571 said: Our daughter did have glue ear in both ears for a long time but one ear has cleared up, the other is still blocked, I wonder if the return of better hearing is contributing to 'overloading' her senses.
Our daughter did have glue ear in both ears for a long time but one ear has cleared up, the other is still blocked, I wonder if the return of better hearing is contributing to 'overloading' her senses.
I think you may be right about this one, given that one eardrum is now rather exposed and raw whilst the other eardrum is still not with it yet, so it could be that the compensation between the two through the cerebral networks is not as yet effectively developed, and as such overwhelming feedback is resulting in the meantime as you have described.
NAS24571 said: I will look into earplugs, that might well help - and I was really interested in hearing about synaethesia, I will read up on it :-) She often covers her earsnow when she gets distressed by things... thanks again for your reply x
I will look into earplugs, that might well help - and I was really interested in hearing about synaethesia, I will read up on it :-) She often covers her earsnow when she gets distressed by things... thanks again for your reply x
If your daughter is not into the ear plug wearing thing, which is not uncommon, maybe just see if softer sound settings would be possible or more viable for the time being. Have a sound/volume check with your daughter to find out what is too high, and may be if it works well you can keep a record of her hearing sensitivity, and be in a better position to know that things are improving, or else discussing the findings with the doctor for more productive and clued up goings on for everybody involved.
I hope all goes well for you all,
Have good one,
And many many more!
thanks so much Deepthought for posting about this. Our daughter did have glue ear in both ears for a long time but one ear has cleared up, the other is still blocked, I wonder if the return of better hearing is contributing to 'overloading' her senses. I will look into earplugs, that might well help - and I was really interested in hearing about synaethesia, I will read up on it :-) She often covers her earsnow when she gets distressed by things... thanks again for your reply x
Have you considered hearing hypersensitivity possibly, as digital sound can be anything from flat and tinny, to edgy and grating, and for some it can actually be immensely agonising. Children's voices are often features of nursery rhymes and are by nature high pitched.
Perhaps see if earplugs will do the job ~ they come in different foam densities for different environmental purposes so as to allow hearing of particular things to lesser or greater degrees, such as speaking with someone next to you rather than having to hear so much all the hustle and bustle going on around and about.
There is also a possibility perhaps that visual hypersensitivity could be an issue involving synaethesia, whereby one sense ~ when it gets overloaded ~ is compensated for by another sense to process the diverted sensory data load. This is why autistic children are described as 'exhibiting paradoxical behaviours' when they cover there eyes instead of their ears or vice versa.